Today in Area 2000 we continued the excavation of the burials located in the Western Extension of Section A. Max and Mark uncovered an almost complete skeleton in a primary burial cut (which was formerly overlain by two other burials, composed mostly of long bones). Courtney and Morgan finished removing their skeleton, leveled the bottom of the cut, filled out their context sheets, and moved to a new potential grave. Shelby took her unit down a few layers but did not discover anything of significance. Vicki, Jaidee, and Lydia continued to level their unit, removing a partial cranium and discovering a new cranium in the process. They discovered a mostly intact skeleton in reduction grave 2729, which was also filled with assorted bones from other individuals.

Group 1: Today we worked on exposing the bones and taking to level the raised area in the western portion of the unit. We also began to extend the limits of the burial by excavating the northern portion of the area--this was done to expose the bones which intruded into this area. Our unit supervisor suggested that our burial may be a double burial with two individuals interred at the same time or a time very close to one another. The individual in the lowest level deposited first, and the upper individual second. Likely both individuals were then disrupted by a cut to their burial.

Group 2: Supervisor advised students to expose human bones for photographic purposes. After photos, students began the process of removing the human bones and completing the skeleton context sheet. Students removed the human bones while maintaining the separation between the anatomical districts. Every district was then wrapped in cotton and labelled in order to distinguish for reconstruction. The pelvic district remains to be removed because this requires extra caution. This district will be completed tomorrow.

Group 3: Today we continued to excavate skeleton 3701. We where able to take photos for 3D imaging. We began to remove the tarsals and metatarsals from the skeleton. Tomorrow we will continue to remove the skeleton. Students removed the human bones the while maintaining the separation between the anatomical district. Every district was then wrapped in cotton and labelled in order to distinguish for reconstruction. The pelvic district remains to be removed, however this requires extra caution. This district will be completed tomorrow.

Group 4: We continued to excavate the femurs, humerus, and thorax from our site. We finished taking it all out but came across complications with how fragile it was but it ended up working out pretty well. Then we finished this site by digging the cut and finished all the forms. We began digging in a new possible grave site and found fragments of a humerus, a skull, and lower limbs. We will continue to dig this area to find all of the elements within it as well as a possible grave adjacent to it.

Group 5: We brought the pit down another few inches and uncovered the rest of the femur while also exposing a proximal tibia. Later on in the pit we uncovered a rib and a metacarpal. We'll continue excavating the pit until we find the bottom.

On this the seventh day of the field school, we began the day by cleaning section B in order to take final photos of layer 5265 before it was pickaxed. Part of this cleaning was finishing the final portion of one of the holes that cut the feature in the north east portion of section B. This excavation produced some ceramic sherds and a high amount of the purple slate. After this, 5265 was removed throughout the entirety of section B.

We began the day with detailed cleaning and exposing the three burials. We determined today that the graves were individual, instead of multiple internments. We learned about skeletal context sheets with Francesco and Ale, then filled them out in regards to our burials. Additionally, we took points and elevations of the corners of each burial and on certain bones with the Total Station. We then brushed the context clean in order to take photos. Afterwards, we started to remove the bones from their context and put them into plastic bags and fabric.